Seeking a Visual Language: Drawing and Design Communications at Foster + Partners
16 May 2024
Members of the Design Communications team at Foster + Partners reflect on their place in the practice of drawing in the Foster + Partners studio, and its ability to question what might be possible for a design.
The Drawing Board
Architectural design is a spatial form that depends on interconnected systems and expertise. Visually communicating a design, then, requires a similar degree of interconnectedness across mediums. Jordan, Nicte, Victoria, Aurelio, and Matthew are five members of the Design Communications team (which is now around forty people) who all operate under the expansive and expanding term ‘drawing.’ As a grouping, their specialisms range from conceptual, sketch, and photorealistic artwork, through to moving art and animation. As Matthew comments:
The architectural drawing used to outline and document what a building would be. Nowadays, we have scale models and technical drawings that do this – and with extreme, millimetre precision. So what should drawing do? It imagines what a building could be.
This broadening definition does not dilute the training or attention required to draw. Each medium does have its strengths, skillsets, and practitioners. One form of drawing might be more appropriate than another at a particular stage of a design. This is the case for Jordan, who is a concept artist. Often brought in at an early stage of a design – when plans have not yet been made – Jordan works to understand the ‘mood’ or ‘atmosphere’ of the project and transform this into a sketch or digital painting. ‘The advantage of working in this painterly way means that you don’t have to nail the final details such as doorframes or lampposts… it’s about offering ideas that can open up discussions, rather than shut them down.’
The Appeal of the Sketch
In a world of proliferation and technological acceleration, one architectural drawing practice remains indispensable: the sketch. Sketching is a reliable way to ‘figure out what we are thinking,’ as the team put it. In a studio environment where paper and a pencil are always within reach, sketching is a way to test and articulate ideas in real time. An idea moves from the mind – down through the spine, arm, wrist, hand, pencil, and finally – to the page. Sketching is a reciprocal activity between the page and the drawer that can be understood, perhaps, as a form of mediation between idea and reality. It is a key tool for any designer.
Similar to storyboarding, sketching is the communal grammar of the team. Members often sketch during conversations and reviews with the architects and with one another – translating between the verbal and the non-verbal, the stated and the implied. This receptivity to sketching allows ideas to germinate and, in turn, to influence and contribute to the design process. The relative freedom permitted by sketching is important for the team. As Nicte reflects:
Many architects in the broader field are quite nervous about drawing – especially on the spot. Perhaps this is because drawing is a skill that is rigorously monitored and graded at university, which can make people self-conscious and block their creativity. You have to know and understand the techniques of drawing, of course, but you also have to develop a confidence that is not necessarily taught. This comes from practice, and from making mistakes – which are never mistakes, but an essential part of the job.
Full article: Seeking a Visual Langauge: Drawing and Design Communications at Foster + Partners